Chachalacas Mexican Cuisine — Restaurant in Regina

Disappointing food and terrible service. The food was not authentic and lacked many of the ingredients listed on the menu, and the staff were unprofessional and seemingly untrained. I apologize for the long review which follows, but I feel the need to be honest after a terrible dining experience.

When we arrived, no one acknowledged us and another customer simply told us there was no list, and we had to stand and wait. We were not addressed by staff until a table opened. After ordering, we sat unattended for over an hour as others seated after us were served. Our waitress repeatedly walked by our empty drinks as well. After one hour and fifteen minutes, our waitress checked with the kitchen and told we would be served next, after the table beside us, despite them arriving after we had already ordered.

We received our meals with no sign of our appetizer. We explained it was missing to another waiter, and were told that they were out of corn tortillas, so we would not be receiving any. Five minutes later our original waitress returned and apologized for the missing food, and after placing blame on the kitchen asked if we still wanted it. We had to explain to her about the out of stock ingredients.

The meals were unfortunately neither authentic or satisfying. We had ordered picadillo tacos and chicken enchiladas, with sides of rice, refried beans, and pico de gallo.

Tacos: They were supposed to contain picadillo (beef/potato/tomato mash), lettuce, cheese, & sour cream. What we received instead was plain ground beef with diced tomatoes & lettuce. No cheese, no sour cream. Despite the menu saying that we were supposed to have a choice of corn or wheat tortillas, no choice was given and we received the wheat. This was interesting as the menu says "gluten free" for the entrees, and I don’t believe these were. Not an issue for us, but would be for someone with Celiac Disease.

Sides: The pico de gallo was the worst offense. Normally a mix of tomatoes, onions, peppers, lime, and salt, we instead received iceberg lettuce with diced tomatoes… and a single slice of jalapeno on one plate. The rice appeared to be ordinary sticky rice with a small amount of vegetables in it, and the refried beans were very salty. Not bad, just too salty. The only redeeming part of the meal was the order of enchiladas, though they too were quite salty.

The staff: Did not seem prepared, and were overwhelmed. Additionally, the older of the two female waitresses (who I think may be one of the owners) stood in front of the order window and danced for 20 seconds with one of the cooks on the other side. This was annoying as at this point we were being ignored and our food was nowhere in sight. She then went and sat down with one of the tables and spoke with them for a while. Our waitress was overwhelmed, though I did feel bad for her as she spilt a tray or drinks, breaking the glasses. It was not a good night for her. The two groups seated before us also seemed to have bad experiences, with one of them having to return food after it was delivered, and the other also left looking quite unhappy.

The final insult was the debit machine, which only (and automatically) provided options for 15%, 20%, and 25% tips, or a manual dollar entry. This seemed presumptuous, especially considering the bad service.

This restaurant has only been open for a few weeks I believe, so some of the problems may be due to untrained and inexperienced staff. But seeing as they have had a location open in Regina Beach for some time, they should have been better prepared. We may revisit again in a few months, hopeful that the service and food issues have been ironed out. But for now, I would not recommend this location to anyone expecting actual Mexican food or good service.

The worst part is that we visited a fantastic Mexican restaurant the week before in Edmonton called...

It was fine..

Alright let me preface this by saying there was nothing wrong with the whole experience, it's just that there was also nothing very good about it either. There's better Mexican food in Regina at this price for sure.

I went to Chachalacas on a weekday evening on a whim, saw it passing by while doing some Christmas shopping and decided some Mexican Food was exactly what I wanted. The reviews looked great so I headed on in. It's a small place with bright colours and an okay feel to, but it was virtually empty.

I sat down and was promptly given some water and a menu, looking through it you'll find all the Mexican staples, from tacos and burritos to flautas and chimichangas. A good selection for a small place. That said the prices were maybe a bit more than I expected, but, if the food's good, reasonable.

I settled on getting a chimichanga al pastor, as I'm a big fan of al pastor any time I've had it and it's not something I make for myself. To my surprise the wait staff gave me complimentary chips and salsa as the Pastor takes longer to prepare, and they were good. No idea if they were made in house but it all tasted fresh and the corn tortilla chips were crisp and not greasy.

Onto the Chimichanga, it came out after a reasonable wait, clearly made to order and fresh and my initial impression was good! It was perfectly fried to a golden brown and looked nice with a drizzle of sauce.

Except.. That drizzle of sauce was one of the cardinal sins of cooking, the second it came time to figure out how to eat it I realized that there was no way I'd be able to pick up this thing without covering my hands(and likely face) with sauce. This honestly is a big deal as the only real way to eat a burrito/chimichanga is by hand, in the end I had to use a knife and fork. Not a deal breaker but definitely not great.

Once I got into it I have to say that I was not very impressed. Starting with the sauce, I have to say I have no idea why someone would choose to do a ranch sauce on Mexican food, and I can say confidently, now having tried it that it is NOT a good match. The ranch they used is clearly heavy on buttermilk and did not pair with the salsa or whatever else they put in it at all, almost tasting sour, in a very bad way. A lime crema or pico de gallo would have been infinitely more palatable.

Secondly the wrap, fried to a crisp golden brown, was really quite good. No idea where they sourced it but it was definitely a high quality tortilla.

Okay, now let's talk about the filling, which is where my disappointment truly lies. The rice and beans were completely devoid of any flavour. I mean there is nothing at all that I can say about them past that. And the al pastor? Well it was extremely tender, and had pineapple cooked with it, but it had none of the strong, bright flavours I expected. No chilis, no garlic, no spices, and no salt. Nothing. It was just red pork with pineapple. As a result the whole chimichanga left me full, but completely unsatisfied.

Unfortunately there was nothing authentic in my meal here and as a result I can't say I'll be back. I also can't say I would recommend Chachalacas, especially over the other options in...

Used to love this restaurant. Was an easy go to when coming to city. Took an out of town friend there yesterday and it was one of the most horrific dining experiences ever. Arrived at 11:45 am, no one else was in restaurant at this time. There was only one employee there (odd coming into a lunch period). A few minutes after we sat down, a skip driver arrived. We ordered our food and drinks and a cup of ice. 10 minutes later the drinks came out but no ice. Fine whatever figured we would just remind him when he came back out. For the hour that we sat waiting, 3-4 different groups came in (7 people total) sat down with menus then would wait for 15-20 minutes without even being given water before giving up and just leaving. We had a glass of water spill, I went to ask for a cloth, was just handed 4 napkins. I explained that it was a full glass so a towel would be better. Was completely ignored so went to the washroom and grabbed the paper towel from there and my friend went into back to get mop for water on floor. Unfortunately he did not emerge from the back until over 50 minutes later to hand give skip driver their order then didn’t even acknowledge us before going back into kitchen area. We understand that he was there by himself but there was just zero service happening. At this point we’ve had enough, so I poked my head back to see where our food was at as we would have just cancelled order if it wasn’t started to which he snapped “5 minutes” with no explanation or apology whatsoever. I asked if we could just get to go instead as my kids were beyond restless. He said “ya okay”. 20 minutes later the food finally came out. Not only was the food packing an absolute joke (I usually only get take out from this place so I know this was not normal for takeaway), the construction of the burrito itself was horrendous and fell apart after only two bites, we were also missing an entire meal from our order.

I feel sympathy that he was the only employee in the restaurant during a lunch hour rush, but it doesn’t excuse the complete lack of customer service and sub par food preparation. If he would have been apologetic and at least communicated with us, I don’t think we would have been as upset with the experience even with the food being substandard. His attitude was just awful. If you can’t have at least 2 staff members working during a time, don’t be open. The amount of customers that came in and walked out would have justified the wage of another person working.

The experience has ensured I will never be returning or recommending this place. Again used to be a favourite of mine, so disappointing, don’t know what the...